■ Cost of living rising
Vietnam's blistering economic growth is attracting foreign investors, but the boom is proving costly for households, which face big rises in the price of basic products such as rice. Consumer prices rose 9.34 percent year-on-year this month, after an 8.8 percent increase last month, the General Statistics Office said. The alarm bells grew louder last week as the national assembly seized on the issue, with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung saying: "We want a higher economic growth and a lower inflation rate." The price of food -- 40 percent of the basket of goods used to calculate Vietnam's inflation rate -- rose 13.94 percent this month.
■ AVIATION
Strike forces delays
A strike by Air France flight attendants left frustrated passengers facing delays and cancellations for a fourth day yesterday, with long-haul flights among the hardest hit. At Paris's main Charles de Gaulle airport, passengers crowded around check-in counters hoping that their flights would be called. Air France had estimated that 60 percent of its flights would take off yesterday, with the figure rising to 70 percent today. The strike is planned to continue until at least midnight. Unions representing flight attendants launched the strike on Thursday to demand better pay and conditions.
■ OIL
Lack of supply hits China
Record world oil prices are forcing Chinese petrol stations to close temporarily because of lack of supplies, state media said yesterday. Petrol stations were reported to be closing in the southern provinces of Guangdong and Fujian and in the central and eastern regions of Zhejiang, Shandong and Henan. "In recent days the demand and supply situation for oil products has been tight," the People's Daily Web site quoted a PetroChina official from Henan Province as saying. "The main reason is that international oil prices have reached record highs while domestic prices have not followed suit. This has seriously influenced the production activities of refiners."
■ SHIPPING
Maersk to build ICD
Shipping company Maersk is to build an inland container depot (ICD) in Bangladesh to ease worsening congestion at the country's main port of Chittagong, an official said yesterday. Maersk Bangladesh Limited, a subsidiary of the Danish shipping giant, will construct the 10 hectare container depot at a cost of US$20 million next year, company deputy general manager Nurul Alam said. "We will to build the inland container depot outside Chittagong port. It has become critically important to build the ICD to avoid congestion at Chittagong port," he said.
■ LAWSUITS
Toymakers near agreement
The two largest US makers of toy trains are nearing a conclusion to a seven-year-old, multimillion-dollar lawsuit. Columbia, Maryland-based MTH Electric Trains has sued Lionel, a century-old brand, accusing it of stealing train designs through a Korean subcontractor. The dispute focused on patented computer technology that synchronizes a train set's sound, smoke and speed, critical technology in their small but competitive market. The agreement includes a cash payment from Lionel to MTH and an agreement on future technology uses. No further details were given.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique